Ladies who have rediscovered sewing in order to provide stylish and well-fitting clothes for their children. As our kids are growing up, they are not yet physically ready or mature enough for adult clothes, and thus adult patterns. So we are in search of fun, functional, and fashionable pre-teen patterns to share with you. Our primary goal is to assist in making sewing for tweens a fun experience for the sewer and the model!

Pattern Source: I discovered this great pattern through Pattern Revolution and one of their Bundle Up sales. It is marketed as a boy jacket and I think it would make an awesome boy jacket! I plan to make one for my son, but just have not yet.

Sizes available: It comes in sizes 12/18 months to 16 and really, I think this pattern not only works for the older kids, it is best for the older kids. What a cool thing to be able to do, sew your child a moto style jacket!

Special materials
required: This jacket is designed to be fully lined so you will need an outer and inner fabric. Depending on heavy/warm you want to make the jacket, your fabrics can greatly vary.

Also essential is a separating jacket zipper and some other hardware to complete the look. I used some funky snaps to attach the tabs. Other fun details could be made with metal zippers for pockets.

Skill level required: When I bought this pattern, I was sure it would require an intermediate or higher skill level. But, it was really very easy ... but not quick. There are a lot of pieces involved and cutting alone took quite a bit of time. But the instructions were so clear, construction was not hard at all.

The welt pockets are a great touch and I modified them a bit just because of my fabric choice.

I did deviate from the pattern a little bit. I choose a double sided fabric so I did not line the jacket. Since I did not line it, I used some gold faux leather (it is the cheep kind in the costume section) to provide some contrast on the cuffs, collar, and pockets as well as to bind the edges.

Good: Well, my daughter told me that this was her favorite thing I ever made. You just don't get better than that.

Abi liked the aviator style collar a lot though I liked it down better than snapped.

And I loved how well this project came together. I was ready for a challenge and it just smoothly turned into a super cool and stylish.

Bad: My fabric choice was rough on my machine. It did not like how thick it was in places. So, just be careful that there are parts that are quite thick and you may need special care in sewing some of those bits. Especially the top-stitching.

Ugly: Nothing

Overall pattern
rating: This pattern certainly earned 5 bolts.

This was my first pattern from Terra's Treasures but it certainly won't be my last!

Thursday, September 10, 2015

(Stacy here) Back to school sewing is in full swing for most people now. Or perhaps you are already done? Good job!

I don't really make my kids special "First Day of School" outfits anymore. Usually on their first day they wear something I made them over the summer, since it is still warm.

My focus on back to school sewing is sewing up something for fall when the temps start dipping lower. This usually happens around the middle to end of September, so I still have a little time.

My kids don't need a lot of clothes right now. My son did seem to grow a few inches over the summer. He was gone to his aunt and uncle's farm for a week and I swear he got taller while he was there, too. I need to have him try on all his jeans and athletic pants to see what still fits and then get on that. I might make some joggers for him that are cropping up all over the place right now.

He's a big t-shirt wearer, so I have a few I want to make him. I have an Ottobre pattern that fits fairly well that I will use. He barely wore long-sleeve shirts last year and opted to wear a hoodie if he got cold. The same hoodie, usually for weeks at a time, until I took it out his backpack to wash it. Boys.

There was a new hoodie released from Peek A Boo pattern shop that looks like it would be great for either a boy or girl.

Monday, September 7, 2015

I (Major Moma) am reading Tim Gunn's book The Fashion Bible (affiliate link) and am quite enjoying learning the history behind the garments we wear today. So in the spirit of Mr. Gunn's book, I thought I would share a little history about a style of top I am making for Abi's Back-to-School wardrobe.

Tee shirts are an absolute must for today's wardrobe but I think they can look sloppy or boring so I love it when I can find a tee that has some fun shape to it. And the "dolman" shirt is perfect for adding that little something special to a basic tee. Also, the cut is quite comfortable so there is no sacrifice for fashion!

Wikapedia traces the origins of the Doman to Turkish court clothing and describes a woman's dolman top as "A dolman sleeve is a sleeve set into a very low armscye; in fact, the armscye may extend to the waistline, in which case there will be no underarm seam in the blouse. Dolman sleeves were very popular in ladies clothing during the Civil War. They returned to popular fashion in the mid 1980s with dolman sleeves on acid and stone-washed denim jackets geared towards teenage boys and girls. They had the effect of making the shoulders look sloped therefore minimizing the appearance of the waist."

A short sleeve version of this top is wonderfully simple because the sleeve is cut onto the front and back. What that means is that there are only two pieces to the pattern! (unless you opt for binding the neckline)

The longer sleeve version has a sleeve that attaches to that dropped shoulder and is quite fitted on the arm while the under arm is left loose and breezy.

There are two dolman sleeve patterns on my cutting table right now; Shwin & Shwin's Day Tripper top and Jaile's 3352. But there are other options if you want to sew this style for your tween.

A pattern I have not tried but have seen good things written about is the Carlie by EYMM. It comes in sizes into the high tweens/teens and has a trendy high/low thing going on too.

Pattern's for Pirates has a woman's dolman called the Pumpkin Spice that comes in an XXS that according to the measurements would fit a size 10 or 12 tween girl. This pattern has a couple different design options and if it is as good as the other P4P patterns I have sewn, it is sure to be a winner.

Sew Much Ado has two dolman tops in it's shop. One is for children and only goes up to size 10 and the other is for women and starts at XS. One of these may work for your tween. Check out the measurements and see ...

Jaile's 3352 comes in sizes 2T to 22 Woman's. So this is a pattern that can really fit all the girls/ladies in your family.

The Day Tripper also is not a children's pattern. It is designed for women but the XS is an option for the older tweens. (Plus, you can sew one up for you too just to make the purchase worth it, right?)

And finally, if you are more of a Draft-it-Yourself gal or simply don't have the cash to spend on one more pattern during the school buying frenzy, Becca's Creative Notions has a tutorial on how to use your normal tee-shirt pattern to draft a dolman sleeve tee-shirt.